What Laurie Halse Anderson is trying to say about friends and best friends in the book Speak is that friends come and go. Heather was a wonderful friend to Melinda until she joined the Martha’s. Later in the year Heather broke their friendship at lunch when Heather said they were never really friends. The second thing is Rachel and Melinda used to be best friends until Melinda called the cops at a summer party. Later in the year Melinda told Rachel what had happened to her at the party, but it took awhile for Rachel to believe Melinda. Lastly Melinda and Ivy are in the same art class. Ivy and Melinda were not friends, but later in the year Ivy helped Melinda with her tree and they became closer as friends. That's what Laurie Halse Anderson
